Monthly Archives: March 2009

I’ve always wanted to create a magnetic spice rack. A while back I searched for small spice tins but couldn’t find any at a decent price. Then a couple of weeks ago I stumbled upon a pack of 20 on clearance at Target for about $3.50. So I got to work!

My Spice Rack Before

I’ve had this frame since college. I put some sheet metal from Home Depot in it and used it to display my magnetic poetry. I decided it would work great for my new spice display. So I painted it.

When I was a reporter and my hair was seen by tens of thousands of people each night, I saw the point of investing $100 a pop on coloring my hair. But when I started freelancing and I no longer was in front of a camera five days a week I began to get buyers remorse after visiting the salon for pricey highlights. I just thought I’d rather spend that $100 on massages or facials– things I consider to be more enjoyable activities.

But yesterday I decided to get my hair professionally colored for the first time in about a year and a half. I wanted to go lighter and get rid of any reddish tint in my hair. Those were the only two instructions I gave the colorist.

Have you ever been sitting in the salon chair, hair covered in dye and started to panic? I could see my hair turning the color of straw, but I kept telling myself that she knew what she was doing. My first hint that something had gone wrong– seriously wrong– was when she said, “Hmm. The top didn’t turn out quite like I wanted.” “The top? I thought it was all supposed to be one color,” I silently shouted in my mind. But I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it is only hair.

You see, I am not a complainer. At least not in public. I grew up with a mom that yelled at everyone, even grocery store cashiers who put the change on top of her bills instead of the other way around. Add that to my years of getting yelled at by customers in various restaurants where I waited tables and I’m just over it.

But the stylist had a hunch I wasn’t going to like it. She even booked me an appointment for Sunday so she could fix it without me even asking. I guess that’s how you know when your hair is a disaster. That and I resemble Richie Rich. In fact, just as I write this a cute little kid looked at me and giggled– proof that I really do look like a cartoon character! Richie Rich is cool and all, but I’m not sure I like resembling him.

I’ve never pretended to be cool. OK, maybe I’ve pretended but I’ve never succeeded. That’s why I have no problem admitting my slight obsession with Jon and Kate Plus 8. With respect to my husband’s wishes, I record the new episodes Monday night and watch them on Tuesday while I eat my lunch. After seeing teases for the season finale last week that eluded to the fact that Jon and Kate were having serious marital problems I told my husband I was nervous.

“Don’t tell people that,” he told me.

“I can’t help that I get attached to reality TV stars!” I replied.

So here I am admitting that I was slightly anxious over what would happen in the finale. I’m happy to report that even though the producers wanted you to think they may be splitting up, the issues were actually over whether to continue the show or not. Kate says she’s loving her life right now while Jon could do without all the fame and attention.

Will they be back for season five? That’s the big question. And one more thing I have to be nervous about.

There are two storytellers I live to emulate, I long to be more like and I love to listen to. And last night I got to hear one of them. Garrison Keillor broadcasts a weekly program called Prairie Home Companion from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul Minnesota. He also goes on tour, visiting cities around the country and last night he stopped in Greenville. I was so excited to take my husband to the show– he has never heard a Prairie Home broadcast although we’ve read a couple of Garrison’s books together.

There are a few reasons why I love Garrison Keillor so much. First of all, he’s making fun of me. I grew up Lutheran, Midwestern, and my heritage is Norwegian. I understand Minnesota winters and I get the personalities of the characters he talks about.

Secondly, I have many memories of listening to Prairie Home Companion on lazy Sundays with my dad. Once in college a group of my friends and I– all broadcast majors– sat on a sidewalk outside the Fitz for six hours just to get tickets to the live radio show. We actually got to sit on the stage, staring at Garrison’s backside the entire time.

Finally, he’s an amazing story teller. The audience will roar with laughter one second with a description of a pudgy Lake Wobegon resident walking down the street whose pants resemble two dogs fighting in a pillow case, only to be brought to silent reflection at the mention of a long lost love. That ability to bring a crowd of thousands through such extremes of emotion collectively is what I admire.

Sitting in the very back row of the Peace Center, Garrison Keillor was a tiny fuzzy image up there on stage, all gray except the splash of red from his socks and shoes. He doesn’t use colorful props, a fancy set or an orchestra of musicians. It’s just him, a piano player and a microphone. And I could listen to it for hours. Especially when he recites poems like Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee which he did last night:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love –
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me –
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud one night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we –
Of many far wiser than we –
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling -my darling -my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea –
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Against my better judgement I tuned into “After the Final Rose: Part 2” last night on ABC. I figured I better since my blog Five Things I Learned from Watching Jason Mesnick on the Bachelor had thousands of readers and dozens of comments. Here is how I would sum up ninety-five percent of the comments and reactions I read about the Bachelor finale: Jason Mesnick is a J-E-R-K.

I expected to hear similar sentiments from the former bachelorettes and audience members on “After the Final Rose: Part 2.” But when I tuned in I heard things like “Jason did the right thing,” “Jason followed his heart,” “At least he didn’t wait until they were married to break it off.”

Why was the only person speaking the heart of America the DUDE that was in the audience!? He said it right when he called what Jason did “unacceptable.” Now that sounds more like some of the comments I received here at The Honeymoon Phase:

LuLu said, “I couldn’t have said it better myself! Jason is a moron. Thanks for a great post!”

rlevisman said, “As a man, husband and father to both a boy and a beautiful little girl, I can only hope she never falls for a jerk like Jason. I watched the show on and off, but did not get really into it. I’m so glad now! Jason was a total A@#..He tore that poor girls heart out on national t.v.”

annespeelman said, “What a great post! I didn’t even watch the bachelor and I was appalled! What a jerk!”

ModernDayMarta wrote, “I pretty much 100% agree with you. I stood up for Jason over the past few weeks as his admirers diminished to just a few and now I’m completely off the bandwagon myself. I live in Dallas and I hope to see Melissa out sometime so I can buy that girl a drink!”

But in my continual search for the positive, there are a few people that were extremely happy by what they saw on After the Final Rose: Part 2. Those who love Gillian are probably feeling pumped about the May 18 premier of The Bachelorette. And clothing company Express is pretty jazzed over the fact that Molly was wearing one of their dresses. It’s the cotton sateen tube dress and for just $69.50 you can look like Molly Malaney!

Shannon, a contestant on the Bachelor

And for my final word before closing the book on the Bachelor Jason Mesnick and moving on to more important things (heck touching up my French manicure seems more important) I just want to say none of this would have happened if Shannon would have made it to the final two!

At 9:58 last night I loved Jason Mesnick. At 10:03 I hated him. For those of you lucky enough to NOT have wasted hours of your life following Jason’s search for love on ABC, he’s the Bachelor for this season. I truly believed, and so did most of the women in America, that Jason Mesnick was a good guy, a single dad from Seattle that had been wronged by several women in his life. He often showed his softer side by crying when he was forced to let women go.

But last night after we watched Jason propose to Melissa and make the choice we all hoped he would make, Jason dumped poor Melissa on national television in the “After the Final Rose” special. He then proceeded to tell Molly, the 2nd place girl that he was still in love with her. Molly being the classy girl that she is started making out with him on the same couch Melissa just got her heart stomped on. I went to bed feeling angry, cheated and disappointed with myself for investing so much time into this dumb show. But as I searched for the positive side of the situation, here are five things I realized I learned from watching the Bachelor with Jason Mesnick.

Tears don’t mean someone is sensitive. I tend to be very trusting of people and if they cry, I feel bad for them. When Jason cried I interpreted it as genuine concern for the women. Nope. Jason is just immature.

Editing can make someone into anyone. Then I started to think maybe Jason wasn’t that great all along. Maybe it was just really, really, really good editing.

Watch out when you break up with a woman on national TV. Just out of curiosity I did a quick search on Go Daddy and someone has already purchased IhateJasonMesnick.com. Was it Melissa? Was it Gillian? At this point I think it could be any woman in America.

I watch too much reality TV. I see it as entertainment, a way to relax after a day of work. But after last night I feel like it is a waste of my precsious life.

I am so blessed. I have a great husband who was just as mad at Jason as I was. My husband is geniune, loving, and committed: three things Jason Mesnick is not.

The Bachelor just highlights the main reason why you should go to God to help you find your soul mate, not reality TV. Ok, I feel better now.